Courtesan Poem by Nan Williamson

courtesan (from the floating world)

Blue blue grass lines the river bank
wild wild willows overfill the tangled garden
young shoots pale green bend in the breeze
a budding girl bows from her window
a slender hand powders her face white white
paints her rosebud mouth red red

then favoured mistress of the manor
now cast-off wife of the wayward son
she breaks a slender branch from the weeping willow
climbs alone to a stony bed


My translation of a poem by Mai Sheng (B.C.E.140) , The Beautiful Toilet, based on the transliteration of the Chinese characters by Ernest Fenollosa.